Circulation at U.S. Newspapers Slips;
Trends Are Mixed at Largest Papers

By

Matthew Rose Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Updated May 7, 2002 12:01 a.m. ET

Despite a significant sales boost in the weeks after Sept. 11, top newspapers in the U.S. saw mostly flat or declining circulation in the past six months, according to figures released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

In the industry's semiannual circulation report, Gannett Co.'s USA Today remained the country's top-selling paper but saw average daily circulation for the six months ended March 31 slip 3.4% to 2.21 million,...